Forget the snow globes and refrigerator magnets. In the Maldives, you can grow a coral reef that will have a lasting impact long after you've left.

Traveling to the azure atolls and remote oases of the Maldives is an extraordinary journey which requires more than the usual souvenirs, and the island resorts of Four Seasons Kuda Huraa and Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru have just the idea. Both resorts are committed to sustainable tourism, and are home to branches of the Manta Trust for manta ray conservation and the Sea Turtle Identification Project, the latter complete with facilities for rehabilitating injured turtles. But that's not all: There’s also Reefscapers, a program at the resorts since 2005, which essentially allows you to grow your own coral reef, Chia-Pet style.

How exactly does someone just…grow a reef? The process is surprisingly simple and takes less time than completing a single page of one of those adult coloring books. Pieces of live coral broken by storms or accidentally by humans are collected and fixed to a frame, serving as the seeds from which a new thicket of coral will grow. Divers then place each frame into barren sandy or rocky areas of the sea floor. The pace is fast; the unpolluted waters of the Maldives see coral developing an average of five or six inches per year. And this is not a “thanks for saving the earth, goodbye now” situation, either; every coral frame is logged with the guest’s name or dedication and the GPS coordinates of where it was placed. Twice a year, divers and staff at the Four Seasons properties pay the reefs a visit and send progress photographs by email. There are now more than 3,000 of these reefs around the Maldives—that’s a lot of photos and a lot of good done between tanning next to your private pool and sipping cocktails in a hammock.

The day after my frame settled into its sandy home, I snorkeled out to see it. Already, fish of all shapes and colors were swimming through its structure, curious about the newest addition to their rapidly growing neighborhood. A few weeks later, when I was more than a few thousand miles away from the Maldives and a few notches higher on the stress meter, my inbox pinged with a Reefscapers update. Two photos revealed that my little coral frame was flourishing in the waters off the Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, part of a new reef design which would be visible from seaplanes passing over this portion of paradise. Immediately I thought back to my stay, diving with turtles in the morning and biking beneath coconut palms in the afternoon, and realized that the long-term good I had done by participating in Reefscapers trumped any souvenir I could have taken home with me.

The benefits of this grow-your-own-reef program stretch further than reminding visitors of their time on the islands. Coral increases the biodiversity of the area, helps prevent erosion (integral for the world’s lowest-lying country in the face of climate change), and makes for spectacular scenery during snorkeling and scuba diving. Furthermore, the basic coral frame is hand-built by residents of the island of Fulhadhoo, a partnership that provides employment and encourages Maldivians to develop skills outside of traditional fishing.

The Maldives may have a reputation as a country where high price tags dominate, but Reefscapers keeps the cost of building a coral reef on par with what a visitor would pay for one dinner at a luxury resort; small frames are $150, and families may choose to sponsor the largest, at $500. In all, it's a small price to pay to contribute to the longevity of a country that's both one of the world's most beautiful and most endangered.